Projects

NZEB – Towards Net Zero Energy Solar Buildings

IEA Joint Project SHC Task 40/ ECBCS Annex 52

Within the IEA Joint project experts from 18 countries discuss the definition and methodology of net zero energy solar buildings, develop tools and guidelines to provide builders and planners and innovative solution-sets for market adoption.

The “Net Zero” - Option

While “net zero” or “plus-energy” concepts are already widely used for marketing purposes all over the world an international harmonized definition and methodology is missing. A key issue is the (superficial) simplicity of the concept, which turns to be a big challenge: The first strategy is to reduce energy demand through suitable architectural design and improved building envelopes. But, addressing the limitations of autonomous buildings, while still achieving “zero”, leads to utility-connected solutions to optimize energy-generation, distribution and storage. This “net zero” approach (NZEB) still incorporates on-site renewable energy but the focus is on achieving an annual balance of energy-supply and demand through interactions with grids.

National contact
DI Sonja Geier
AEE - Institute for Sustainable Technologies
Feldgasse 19, A- 8200 Gleisdorf
Mailto: s.geier@aee.at

Project – partners:
Austria
Australia
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Germany
Italy
France
Finland
Republic of Korea
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdome
USA